Wisdom from a Dying Friend (Simeon's song) ~ Luke 2:22-35

He entered the temple at a feverish pace, particularly for an old man with arthritis and heart problems. He wasn’t sure what drove him but he awoke with a desire, actually more like an ache, to get to the temple. All he knew was that he needed to be there, needed to see something and that maybe what drove him was God – but of course, he’d been wrong before. He pushed his way in among the many who came, scanning the crowds, mumbling a prayer for help and his eyes settled on a poor couple. He could tell by their clothes and the sacrifice they held – a pair of turtledoves – which was an offering for those who couldn’t afford the proper sacrifice. But their poverty was merely an afterthought, for what really mattered was that they absolutely shimmered and as he stumbled toward them he began to weep – this was it, this was God’s promise that he had waited for so long to see – and with a startling amount of emotion he stood in front of them, plucked the baby from Mary’s arms and sang a prayer, “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word. For mine eyes have seen thy salvation which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; to be a light to lighten the Gentiles, and to be the glory of thy people Israel.” Mary and Joseph were stunned – so was Simeon. For now he also just realized something else, something quite surprising – he was going to die. He chuckled a bit to himself how all this must look but in a moment of clarity that only dying can give, he paused for a moment, looked squarely at Mary and Joseph . . .

1.     “Then Simeon blessed them . . .” Friends, Simeon understands that life is short and hard. His advice is for us to bless others first while they’re still alive.

The word “bless” in Greek is eulogeo (yoo-log-eh'-o). It’s where we get our word eulogy (a compound word in the Greek which means “good word.”). But here it’s the dying man who eulogizes the living. Simeon has seen and known God’s blessings, he has heard from God, seen his salvation, worshipped him but understands that we still haven’t done all that we need to do until we have blessed those of the next generation. He’s not like the grumpy old man from past Saturday night life skits - the embittered archetypical grandfather figure who would complain about the state of the world, mainly in regard to many modern conveniences. He would say things like “In my day, we didn't have safety standards for toys. We got rusty nails and big bags of broken glass! That's the way it was, and we liked it! We loved it!”

No, that’s not Simeon. He knows how hard life can be so he doesn’t complain or compare but prays for this couple, let’s them know of God’s love, declares to them the good news that there is a light to see, to know God. There is a light to guide. It’s found by looking to this baby. 

We need more Simeons. Not those given to fear or panic, or nostalgia, but who listen, who honor the younger ones, who speak eulogeo “good words.” If you are older – we need grandparents of the church to realize that you still have a job to do – to bless us, to eulogize others while we are still alive. Who are your Mary and Josephs? If you are younger – remember that your elders have “good words” for you, blessings to give. Look for and listen to your Simeons.

2.   But a blessing is not all Simeon has to say, “This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed” Following this baby will be hard and will have its ups and downs. He will show us what God is like, what we should do, and help us realize that we often won’t want to do it. 

Now the warning label comes out on this gift. Yes, salvation has been declared, God’s victory and peace have come / are coming – but we won’t always like it. This is where our Christmas songs tend to lack a bit on the truth meter as far as the Bible goes. They’re not exactly echoing the songs we find in the New Testament nor do they make sense of the horrific violence and political turmoil of the world Jesus was born into. While our songs may invoke hopes of “peace on earth, goodwill toward men,” and even snow (snow?), Simeon’s song (along with Mary’s and Zechariah’s) sets forth specific images of the proud and powerful dethroned, the lowly raised, an infant who will be “opposed,” and “spoken against.”
 

Most Christmas songs never give us what we should be looking for: a “crucifiable” Jesus and a God who represents and does something so provocative to make people murderously hostile. In the movies, Jesus is either a hippy peace-child or a first-century success story trafficking in Joel Osteen like best-sellers “Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential.” Listening to society and most church folk, you’d think He come to make us feel good, to help sell stuff, to offer us heaven but not much else. Why would anyone want to oppose or hurt a guy like that? Because He’s so successful and annoyingly cute? I don’t think so.

What does Simeon and Mary, one chapter earlier, sing about? Not about a Jesus who doesn’t cry or a white Christmas with lovely snow. She sings about the Lord’s mercy to those who fear Him, His generosity to the poor and hungry, His hostility to the proud and rich. She sings about a political overturning of the way things are. And Simeon adds one more accent to this reality – he won’t be like you suspect, he won’t do it exactly as you want him to, and he will expose how you truly feel about God’s work. 

And friends, I’ve found that be true in my own life. This Jesus has raised me up and laid me low. He has exposed my greed, my meaningless God-talk, my pious prayers with little to no action or change of life. This baby reveals God in the concrete and how I often sort-of-like God in the abstract. He exposes how I want following Jesus to be a sign of success rather than a sign of opposition. Simeon reminds us that Christianity is not a “better religion” but a faith that declares Jesus is Lord. And always remember – they killed him for it. This baby is dangerous.

3.    “And a sword will pierce your own soul too.” Finally, friends, Simeon reminds us that if you are a Christian you will suffer. It’s not your fault, he says. Those who are truly in love with Jesus always do.

Christmas is a story of love about a baby. And who doesn’t love babies? But sentimental love about a cute baby will not sustain us for long. No, loving anything truly in this life, no matter how good, will lead you to suffer. In fact, it’s that suffering that will help you know whether it’s real love or not. The love of God is announced as a declaration of love from a brutal cross of suffering. Our love in response can be no different.

But even so, why tell anyone that they will suffer? It’s such a bummer and hardly what you might want to say to new parents. As I thought about this truth – this is what I came up with – if we don’t tell Christian brothers and sisters that suffering is par for the course, they will inevitably think that their suffering is because they’ve done something wrong. That’s where our minds go – when we suffer we imagine that we are being punished. And Simeon wants to remind us, “No, doing the right thing, saying your prayers, even being the mother of God on earth, won’t save you from hard things.” Being God didn’t keep him from suffering. But there’s also an upside – what you suffer for can reveal what you truly love. Until that time you’re a spectator, a dabbler, a lover in the making but not the real thing. It’s only when you suffer that you become a lover.

I have a friend who’s mad at God. It really hurts. He’s frustrated that God hasn’t answered his prayers as he wanted, he’s angry about abuse that his wife encountered at work from colleagues who conspired behind her back, and is disheartened by her Christian boss who simply looked the other way while his wife, with all the courage she could muster, exposed to him the awful working conditions under which she performed her job. He’s upset and has every right to be. I’ve felt my role was to listen, to not judge, to bless him and his wife for their courage and faithfulness. I fear my friend, however, is truly mad because he blames himself. He fears that he didn’t do it right, pray the right prayer or with the right amount of faith. He wonders if his suffering has any meaning at all. And Simeon has reminded me that I maybe I should say one more thing to him and maybe one more thing to you – “I know it hurts. I’ve been there too. But now it’s known that you truly love Jesus. You don't suffer because you did anything wrong. You suffer because you did everything right! When you follow Jesus a sword will pierce your own soul too. But it will be made right in the end. Go in peace.”

The Church is not Enough: What kind of worship does God desire? ~ Psalm 100

“Zombies.” Can you believe it? I’m starting another sermon with that word. I did so not long ago and actually never thought I would do it again but zombies, O and Michael Jackson, have been bouncing around in my head. You see a couple of weeks ago I went with my family to watch the world-wide Thriller dance on the lawn of the court house. It was amazing. Hundreds of people, dressed like zombies, who at the appointed hour began to dance to Michael Jackson’s song Thriller around the world. This has been happening since 2005 and has set numerous world records. The purpose, according to its creators is to create “a global community project that is inspiring others to break down barriers, connect with people of all religions, race, political and economic persuasions, contribute to helping humanity, encourage environmental stewardship and encourage people to step up as leaders, visionaries, and creators.” Now, that’s a tall order for such a song and dance – even one by Michael Jackson and while I don’t wish to critique or disparage the event. I had a great time. It reminded me that such a global, public, transforming vision is what we are to be about every day as Christians – a global phenomenon, meant to inspire, to transform, to break down barriers, and change the world. Today, I would like to offer Scripture’s own Thriller Dance and the way it challenges us about where worship should happen, what worship should be, and who it is we worship.

Psalm 100 begins, ¹Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!

The Psalmist begins our Thriller dance with a challenge, an invitation: who is invited to this praise of the living God? Where is the space for our worship? “All the earth,” we are told. That means . . .

1.    First of all the challenge is that the church is not enough.

Friends, Psalm 100 should remind us that the church is too small for God. Sunday worship is good and wonderful but it’s not extravagant enough, not large enough, not all encompassing enough. It’s a summons for the whole earth.

The earth is simply short-hand for all of created existence – it means the one world that God has made. That the planet earth is the very theater of God where we worship. And it should be of no surprise to us that I once again wish to challenge us by the very way that we speak. Don’t worship at church! We don’t do that because the church was never meant to be a place but a people – a people throughout every nation, language and walk of life . The next time someone ask you where you worship say, “Planet earth!”

But make no mistake – “all the earth” isn’t simply meant to broaden your horizons. Psalm 100 isn’t trying to be some NASA rocket which aims to give you a far-away vantage point for seeing the entire world. “All the earth,” in other words, may be smaller than you think. It means that you are to worship and shout for joy where you live, where you work, when you play. It means that worship is meant for your neighborhood, your local park, your home, and even your office. It’s an invitation and orientation to see every place as “holy ground.”

In the documentary film Godspeed, an American living in St. Andrews, Scotland, arrives at his new job as a Parish Assistant and asks his boss (the priest), “Where is my office?” The priest responds, “Your office?” And the new assistant says, “Right, sorry, I mean your office.” And the priest asks, “My office?” And then with a flicker of recognition takes him to the sign of the church which has his home telephone number on it and says, “That’s my office.” The now puzzled American asks, “Where do I work?” and the priest points down the street and says, “The parish. Start walking.” And he begins to move down the street, knocking on doors, visiting with people, getting to know “all the earth” one door and one cup of tea at a time.

As I watched the film, I began to realize that the challenge of making a joyful noise throughout all the earth is not about too much space or an overwhelming amount of real estate. It’s actually a problem of time. We move too fast to see all that we need to see in the earth that we actually live. We are too quick and touristy to see and give thanks for all that exists around us. So the invitation this morning is to invite you to a 3 mile an hour worship where you live. Why 3 miles an hour? Well, because that’s the average walking speed of a person. We will never be able to summon “all the earth” to worship unless we can slow down to catch up with the God who is everywhere in it. So where is your parish? Start walking.

²     Serve the Lord with gladness!
    Come into his presence with singing!

³ Know that the Lord, he is God!
    It is he who made us, and we are his;^[a]
    we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

2.    The second way that Psalm 100 challenges and invites us is to the reality that for worship singing is not good enough.

BUT singing is good. It gets us going in the right direction. It helps us connect to what it means to be human, it opens our hearts as well as our heads.  There’s a reason that we are commanded to sing so often in the scriptures. I once asked my daughter Emma why she thought that Christians were so often admonished to sing. She said, “singing is the most joyful full-bodied response we can give to a God we cannot hug.” I think she’s right.

As the band U2 was starting out many years ago, Bono, himself a Christian, wrote the following letter to his father:

“[God] gives us our strength and a joy that does not depend on drink or drugs. This strength will, I believe, be the quality that will take us to the top of the music business. I hope our lives will be a testament to the people who will follow us, and to the music business where never before have so many lost and sorrowful people gathered in one place pretending they’re having a good time. It is our ambition to make more than good music.”

Bono’s words echo the Psalmists. God, too, wants more than good music. For full, joyful worship to take place he also wants our service – “to serve the Lord with gladness,” is our worship! So once again we are challenged to enlarge our vision of what worship is. How often have we been lead to believe that it’s like this? (Individuals with arms raised high in nature)

Have you ever thought what it means to “serve the Lord”? How do you serve the First Cause of all creation? The mighty One who holds all things together? The creator of all that is. This God isn’t one like the Greek gods who have human appetites and run amuck like teenagers with superhuman powers. This God needs nothing – has everything – and he isn’t lonely or needy or grumpy – but makes us a people to worship and serve him – which means “all of creation,” all that is “His.”

And yet one of the common complaints that God will make against Israel is that there worship focuses on the wrong things – like our passage from Amos – festivals, assemblies, burnt offerings, noisy songs, nice melodies, while neglecting mercy and justice for the poor and the outcast.

Friends, God wants full human flourishing on the earth and worshipping Him was meant to secure that. A worshipping community of the One True God is out joyfully singing in the streets and working for the peace of God. So true worship of God, the psalmist declares is not simply about a proper place but it’s also a project of service. Worship, in other words, is what should get you dirty.

Worship is about God creating a community - a community of service centered on God to bless “all the earth.” There’s an interesting tension about all that is God’s – all that is “his” in our text. On the one hand, there is a notion that it is God who made everyone – “we are his.” On the other hand, there is a notion that there are some who recognize him more fully, who are “his people, and the sheep of his pasture.”  – what’s the point of that? There is an irony here. Many people imagine that that they are God’s sheep which means somehow that He cares less for others. But if we are worshippers of this God – we are called to a life of joyful service to others because of God’s love of all creation. We are to be servant sheep!

At this point, I shared a story that I had heard that very morning about one of my parishioners who “served others.” To hear the story go to MCC’s website and listen to the sermon.

⁴ Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
    and his courts with praise!
    Give thanks to him; bless his name!

⁵ For the Lord is good;
    his steadfast love endures forever,
    and his faithfulness to all generations.

3.    Thankfully, God is enough!

The heart of worship is not first and foremost a question about us - of space (where we worship?) or community (whom do we serve?) but focuses on the God who is actively at work redeeming all of creation. Ignatius Loyola spoke about the task of worship as marinating in the “God who is always greater” and that means greater than our songs, our creeds, our sermons, our buildings, our politics, our failures, even our hopes for the future!

The secret of the ministry of Jesus was that God was at the center of it. Jesus chose to marinate in the God who is always greater than our tiny image, the God who loves without measure and without regret, whose love endures forever.

How do we unlock a Biblical perspective of worship orientated to global change and service? How do we not become overwhelmed? What’s the password to a realistic but inspiring vision in a world that feels so dark at times?

Eugene Peterson’s translation of vs. 4 is helpful and will open us to a hope necessary for the church to continue worshipping God around the world. He translates vs. 4. “Enter with the password: ‘Thank you!’ Make yourselves at home, talking praise. Thank him. Worship him.”

The password is “thank you” because when we practice our “thank yous” to God we are placing ourselves in the proper place. We are reminding ourselves that this whole project rest upon him. We say “thank you” because God is the only one powerful enough to ultimately reach all the earth and bring it justice. We say “thank you” because worship is God’s project and not our own. We say “thank you” to remind us that we are joining with God rather than doing something for God.

Pay attention – the church is not enough. Be watchful of the God who is active in all the earth.

Be joyful and not afraid – singing is not good enough. God desires our worship to transform the communities where we live. He wants our worship to get us dirty.

Be thankful – God – well, God is good and steadfast and forever. Marinate in the God who is simply enough.